Tzu Chi Distributes to 50,000 Pakistanis

On November 2 and 3, Tzu Chi volunteers distributed instant rice and blankets to 50,000 people displaced by floods and living in camps in the south Pakistan province of Sindh. They also gave out a letter of support from Dharma Master Cheng Yen.

It was the first distribution by the foundation since unprecedented rainfall swept the country from July, covering up to 20 per cent of the nation in water. It decided to start its aid in Sindh, one of the worst hit provinces, where the floods have killed 400 people and forced 1.8 million to live in 4,680 camps. It held the distribution at a large sugar factory in Sujawal, in the Thatta district. This is a plain where farmers produce rice, cotton and sugar cane: the area has been covered by water, so that the residents have lost not only their homes but also their crops. The eight-member team from Taiwan was helped by local students and businessmen as well as nearly 100 volunteers who received pay under a work-for-relief program. Security was provided by the local police.

Tzu Chi gave out 103 tons of instant rice and 25,000 blankets made from recycled plastic bottles to 6,800 households; each received 15 kg of rice and four blankets. They also distributed 8,000 letters written by Master Cheng Yen and translated into the local language, in which she expressed her compassion for the suffering of the people and her hopes of a better life for them.

A member of the team, Chen Jinfa, said that they needed to use everything they had learnt, to ensure that the distribution went smoothly: “that is what the Master has told us to do – to allow these suffering people to receive the goods as quickly as possible, so that they may happily return home.”

They were assisted by nearly 30 students from Karachi recruited by a local volunteer named Asif. Before the distribution, the students attended a training session to learn the foundation’s principles of “gratitude, respect and love”. The team’s efforts moved the wealthy owner of a Karachi clothing factory named Anis; he saw the hard work they have put in over the last 10 days to prepare for the distribution and gave 200,000 rupees (US$2,400), making him the first Pakistani to donate to the foundation. “I understood that, if somebody wants to help poor and needy people, this is how they should organize it,” he said. Zhu Zhanglin, a member of the team, said: “we are direct, we are focused and we are respectful. Once Mr. Anis understood this, he knew that whatever money he gave Tzu Chi would be well used.”On November 5, the team planned to return to Taiwan, to draw up a medium- and long-term relief plan, which may include construction of temporary homes and providing medical clinics. The aid arrived on October 27 after a two-week journey from Taiwan in ten 40-foot containers on a ship belonging to the Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation. The shipping company delivered the goods free of charge, in a gesture of support; this decision moved everyone concerned with Tzu Chi’s Pakistan operation.

The people of Taiwan and Pakistan are thousands of kilometers apart. But this terrible disaster has brought them together as if they were families living under the same roof, sharing the same trials with selfless love and an understanding of the other.